Services

Four services, or specialized processes, provide ISA Server functions:

• Microsoft ISA Server Control (Mspadmin.exe) Controls the restarting of other services when needed and the generation of alerts and running actions, and works with the ISA Server Storage service to update the configuration to all array members.

• Microsoft Firewall (Wpsrv.exe) Supports requests from firewall clients and SecureNAT clients and Web proxy clients routed to the proxy filter. When this service is stopped, ISA Server enters lockdown mode, which is enforced by the Firewall Engine service.

• Microsoft ISA Job Scheduler (W3Prefetch.exe) Downloads cache content from Web servers, and schedules report jobs.

• ISA Server Storage (Isastg.exe) Responsible for managing read and write access to the local configuration store.

• Firewall Engine (Fweng.exe) A kernel-mode driver (really, a packet filter driver) that manages firewall traffic by making packet filtering and address translation decisions. This service enforces lockdown mode.

Caution 

If the Firewall Engine service stops, no protection exists, and everything is allowed! Be very careful of stopping this service, and set an alert to monitor this condition.

• Microsoft Data Engine Service (Mssqlserver.exe) Controls the SQL Server database to which ISA Server logs are stored by default.

• Network Load Balancing (NLB) Integration When NLB integration is enabled, you will see information showing the NLB service for each server in the array on the Monitoring tab of the ISA Server Management console.

• Remote Access Service When virtual private network (VPN) client access or a site-to-site network is enabled, you will be able to see the Remote Access service on the Monitoring tab of the ISA Server Management console.

Starting and Stopping ISA Services

The best way to stop, start, or restart services is to open the Services console (either through Administrative Tools, Computer Management, or by typing services.msc from a command line), choose the service, and click the Start, Stop, or Restart buttons. Outside of this conventional method of starting and stopping services, you can perform service administration from within the ISA Management console by completing the following steps:

1. Open the ISA Server Management console.

2. In the console tree, click the Monitoring node.

3. In the details pane, click the Services tab, and then select the service you would like to start or stop.

4. In the task pane, under Service Tasks, click Stop Selected Service.

   Note 

   You can also right-click the applicable service and select Stop or Start. In the task pane, the options available to you differ depending on whether the service currently is running or stopped. Another option would be to start and stop services from the command line using "net start servicename" or "net stop servicename" where servicename is the short name of the service. For the NLB service, you can also use advanced functions such as drainstop, suspend, and resume. See the ISA Server Help file for more information.